In Honor of James Purtee, City Manager
Floor Speech
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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Madam Speaker, after 31 years of public service, Palmdale City Manager James ``Jim'' Purtee announced his retirement effective at the end of 2019. Jim began his diverse career in public service with the City of Simi Valley in 1988. He spent over 27 years working for several city departments in Simi Valley and was involved in improving access to affordable house, ensuring continued economic development, and contributing to city planning efforts. In addition, Jim spent his free time doing community services. In July 2012, Jim was named as the City of Simi Valley's Assistant City Manager, where he was responsible for intergovernmental relations and served as the City's public information officer. While serving as the Assistant City Manager, Jim obtained S&P rating upgrade of AAA for the City of Simi Valley. He sponsored a $5 million citywide investment in replacing technology services and turned a $2.4 million budget deficit to a $2.4 million budget surplus in just three years. Jim took the lead on working with city departments to complete a biogas fueling project for the City's transit buses and implement a $15 million energy savings and production project. During his time in public service, Jim managed a $160 million investment portfolio and increased investment returns by 400 percent over the benchmark and earned an additional $9.7 million on City funds over a six-year period. Jim was instrumental in securing $780,000 in grant funding to invest in citywide energy efficiency programs and oversaw countless affordable house programs to benefit thousands of families. In October 2015, Jim became the City Manager for the City of Palmdale. While serving as City Manager in Palmdale, Jim amassed a number of significant achievements and successes. As City Manager for the City of Palmdale, Jim obtained an S&P rating upgrade to AA- and engaged in community partnerships, which contributed to reducing the City of Palmdale's Part 1 crime rate by over 40 percent in just 5 years. Under Jim's leadership, the City of Palmdale was named as the 44th Safest City in the US, was ranked in the top 15 percent of fiscally responsible cities in California and as a top 25 city in the U.S. to Live the American Dream. Jim implemented initiatives to assist thousands of families in obtaining safe, decent, and affordable housing. He carried out fiscal and legislative actions that provided over $100 million in positive fiscal impacts to communities and worked on cutting edge sustainability projects such as waste to energy, groundwater recharge, and acquisition/conversion of 18,000 Streetlights to LED. During his career, Jim served on multiple boards governing water, transportation, medicine, and regional planning. He served on the League of California Cities Fiscal Transparency, Revenue and Tax, and City Manager Committees. Jim supported the success of Air Force Plant 42 through maintaining strong relationships with all stakeholders. Jim worked tirelessly to ensure Palmdale, California will be California's High Speed Rail connection to the Western U.S. and partnered with academic stakeholders to educate and train the next generation of aerospace employees. Jim obtained over $300 million in grants, tax credits, and other financial resources to invest in transportation, housing, water, energy, and quality of life improvements for the City of Palmdale. He oversaw the development of strategic plans for increasing access to public arts, encouraging economic development throughout the city, and restoring air service to Palmdale. While serving as City Manager, Jim invested in local parks, building the City of Palmdale's first dog park, developing new City parks, and improving existing parks. Jim was honored by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the premier local government leadership and management organization, at its annual conference in Baltimore earlier this year for his significant contributions and achievements in the advancement of local government administration for 30 years. An avid supporter of military veterans, Jim has volunteered countless hours with local veteran organizations. He is also an advocate for supporting mental health programs, especially with our local youth population, and has also served on the Board of Directors for Palmdale Regional Medical Center. Jim holds both a bachelor's and master's degrees from California State University, Northridge, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education for senior executives in state and local government program. Jim has been happily married for the past 33 years to Tina, whom he has known since high school, and they are the proud parents of four children: Erika, Elyssa, Ariana, and Ethan.
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